Page 87 of A Kingdom of Sand and Ice (Kingdom of Gods #2)

Now, within the haven of Hessa’s arms, beneath the sweep of her touch, she felt it. Not as vanity, but as truth. As something holy.

Hessa’s kiss grew urgent, consuming. Their mouths met with increasing hunger, their tongues dancing as if they had done so a thousand times in a thousand different lives.

Their hands roamed freely, learning the map of each other’s skin, each curve and hollow worshipped with reverence.

Moans spilt between them, shameless and sweet, echoing in the stillness with no care for who might hear.

Alina had never felt more treasured. As Hessa’s lips journeyed from her mouth to the elegant line of her throat, to the soft rise of her breasts, to the curve of her belly and the warmth waiting below, Alina trembled.

When Hessa’s tongue touched the tender flesh of her inner thigh, and then beyond, Alina arched her body alight with a pleasure so fierce it bordered on pain. She did not shy away. She did not shrink. She opened herself like a desert flower greeting the dawn, and let herself be loved.

Her fingers curled into the thin blanket beneath her, the only anchor she could find as waves of bliss overtook her. She gripped it tightly to stop herself from marking Hessa’s skin with the fire that now burnt through her.

Alina had never felt so achingly beautiful, nor so fiercely powerful, as she did in that singular, sacred moment.

There was no hesitation in her limbs as she rolled Hessa gently beneath her, answering the invitation in the desert princess’s eyes.

Every gasp, every soft moan that slipped from Hessa’s parted lips became a guide, a whispered map leading Alina deeper into the art of worship.

Her body thrummed with heat, a fire stoked by each breathless cry, each tremble she coaxed from Hessa’s frame.

And when she lifted her gaze to see Hessa arching, twisting in the crumpled bed linens, undone beneath the reverent touch of her mouth and fingers, Alina’s heart soared.

To bring her such pleasure, to make her fall apart so beautifully, felt like a prayer answered.

She never wanted the moment to end. Never wanted the sun to rise on a world where she could not taste this closeness again.

‘Alina…’ Hessa breathed her name like a vow, her voice soft and trembling as she guided Alina onto her, hands finding their way with instinctive reverence. Their bodies moved as one, fingers entwined in shared rhythm, and every gasp, every moan, sang of their surrender. ‘I’m trying to hold on…’

‘Don’t,’ Alina whispered, her voice unravelled with pleasure.

Their release came together, a crescendo of sensation that left them breathless, Alina’s hips moving in a slow, pulsing rhythm to savour the moment.

Laughter bubbled from her lips as she collapsed beside Hessa, joy crackling in the aftermath.

But her breath caught when Hessa, with a teasing gleam in her eyes, brought Alina’s fingers to her mouth and sucked them slowly, deliberately, before leaning in and stealing a kiss that tasted of fire, salt, and something dangerously sweet.

‘I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this,’ Alina confessed, her lips curving into a soft, satisfied smile.

‘Good,’ Hessa replied, her voice a whisper wrapped in warmth as she lazily traced her finger along the length of Alina’s arm, sending shivers in its wake. ‘Because I very much intend to do this again.’

‘When?’ Alina asked, her voice laced with hope, her eyes searching Hessa’s for an answer she was almost afraid to want too much.

But Hessa said nothing. Instead, her smile deepened into something unreadable, something that danced between mischief and desire. She leaned in, pressing her lips to Alina’s with a slow, deliberate hunger that stole the breath from Alina’s lungs and set her soul alight.

Before she could gather her thoughts, Hessa was above her once more, every touch a flame, every caress a promise. Alina’s skin bloomed beneath Hessa’s fingers, and the world narrowed to the space between them where nothing else mattered but this.

‘Now, right now,’ Hessa whispered, her voice a breathy promise as she scattered tender kisses along the soft curve of Alina’s stomach, inch by inch, until she reached the bend of her thighs.

With gentle hands, she lifted Alina’s legs, parting them with reverence, and once more let her tongue wander with intimate devotion across familiar, sacred terrain.

Alina did not notice the way the sun slipped quietly from the sky, yielding to the hush of twilight and the velvet shroud of night.

Time itself seemed to still as the two girls clung to one another, bodies pressed close in a dance as old as the stars.

They moved with unspoken understanding, touching and exploring with tireless affection, as darkness deepened and the world beyond their embrace faded to a distant whisper.

‘Yaa aras ma sahraa,’ Alina whispered against the curve of Hessa’s chin, the words a vow of quiet devotion spoken into the hush of the room.

They lay bare upon the narrow cot, their limbs entwined, skin pressed to skin in a sacred tangle of warmth and trust. Even in rest, Alina’s fingers wandered, light as a sigh, tracing idle patterns across the soft plane of Hessa’s stomach, coaxing goosebumps to rise in their wake.

She pressed a kiss there, tender and playful, and both girls dissolved into soft, breathless laughter.

Hessa’s moonlit eyes shimmered with unspoken affection as she leaned down to press reverent kisses, first to Alina’s brow, then her nose, and finally her waiting mouth.

They drifted into sleep like that, curled around one another, smiles lingering on their lips, as if even in dreams they refused to part.